According to the findings of the 24th Annual Global CEO Survey by PwC, a year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, optimism for economic recovery reached a new record, as 76% of CEOs say they believe it will improve during the next 12 months.
The percentage of CEOs who express confidence in growth is the highest level of optimism since 2012 when it was included as a question in the study, while it far exceeds 22% in 2020 and 42% in 2019. This optimism is particularly strong in North America and Western Europe, with 86% and 76% respectively.
After a year of pandemic that has contributed to widespread financial hardship, it is encouraging to see that people make investments and staffing decisions are moderately optimistic about this year. CEOs are confident that growth will return, driven by the rapid development of vaccines and immunization programs in many parts of the world
said Bob Moritz, President of PwC Global Network.
However, as global optimism has risen, there is widespread variation across industries, reflecting the various degrees to which consumer behavior has been affected by the pandemic. CEOs in the technology and telecommunications sectors recorded the highest levels of optimism at 45% and 43%, respectively. CEOs in the transport and logistics (29%) and hospitality and leisure (27%) industries are among the least optimistic about their ability to increase revenue over the next 12 months.
In addition, PwC finds that climate change ranks just ninth among the threats to growth, from the perspective of CEOs. In addition, 27% of CEOs say they are “not at all worried” or “not too worried” about climate change. This may be because of the fact that climate change is not considered an immediate threat to development, compared to other issues such as pandemics.
What is more, the rise of digitalisation is also exacerbating the dangers posed by cyber threats. This, combined with a significant increase in cybersecurity incidents in 2020, including ransomware attacks, has resulted in cyber threats climbing to second place in the ranking of concerns, as reported by 47% of CEOs compared to 33% in 2020. Cyber threats are of particular concern to CEOs in North America and Western Europe, where they are considered a greater threat than a pandemic.
However, despite the growing level of concern expressed by CEOs about cyber attacks, this has not translated into concrete actions. Less than half of CEOs planning to increase their digital investment also plan to increase their cybersecurity and data protection spending by 10% or more.
The spread of misinformation (28%, up 16% in 2020), which has affected elections, reputation and public health – is also rapidly rising in the rankings of CEOs’ concerns – further contributing to the loss of trust within society.
In addition, in 2020, tax policy uncertainty was out of the top ten concerns for CEOs, with only 19% of CEOs concerned. This year, its importance has grown rapidly, climbing to seventh place (31%), with CEOs no doubt watching government debt pile up and realizing that business taxes may need to be increased.
One year after the start of the pandemic, we are at a turning point as vaccinations around the world begin to accelerate. Although the form of the recovery remains unknown, it is clear that we will not be able to simply return to where things were before. To achieve the kind of change needed, CEOs will need to adopt a different way of thinking by constantly evaluating their decisions and actions in the context of the wider social impact
Mr. Moritz concluded.
